Lucky to Be a Teacher: Life-Changing Affirmations for Positive Classrooms Review
This gem of a workbook expands on 33 affirmations and reflection questions to help readers establish goals, maintain a positive perspective, and remain committed to excellence.
Being A Teacher In Higher Education Review
Being A Teacher in Higher Education draws extensively on research literatures to give detailed advice about the core business of teaching: instruction, learning activities, assessment, planning and getting good evaluations. It offers hundreds of practical suggestions in a collegial rather than didactic style.
This is not, however, another book of tips or heroic success stories. For one thing Peter Knight appreciates the different circumstances that new, part-time and established teachers are in. For another, he insists that teaching well (and enjoying it) is as much about how teachers feel about themselves as it is about how many slick teaching techniques they can string together. He argues that it is important to develop a sense of oneself as a good teacher (particularly in increasingly difficult working conditions); and it is for this reason that the final part of this work is about career management and handling change.
This is a book about doing teaching and being a teacher: about reducing the likelihood of burn-out and improving the chances of getting the psychic rewards that make teaching fulfilling. It is an optimistic book for teachers in universities, many of whom feel that opportunities for professional fulfilment are becoming frozen. (20030301)
Get Smart About Tests: The Essential Parent and Teacher's Guide to Understanding Children's Educational and Psychological Testing Review
GET SMART ABOUT TESTS is a comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide that takes you on a journey into the world of educational and psychological testing. Standardized tests are used more today than at any other time in history, and they are increasingly used to make important decisions about our children. That alone is reason enough to make understanding tests a top priority for all parents and teachers. The purpose of GET SMART ABOUT TESTS is to inform parents and teachers in an honest and straightforward manner about educational and psychological testing. You'll learn how to understand the most common types of test scores, just how important IQ is, whether intelligence can be boosted, why important decisions should never be based on a single test, why we place so much faith in numbers, how personality tests are used, what you can do to help your child do better on tests, and so much more. In the end, GET SMART ABOUT TESTS will get you thinking like a test expert.
Transformative Classroom Management: Positive Strategies to Engage All Students and Promote a Psychology of Success (Jossey-Bass Teacher) Review
The natural condition of any classroom is harmonious, satisfying, and productive, so why do so many teachers struggle with problems of apathy, hostility, anxiety, inefficiency, and resistance?
In this groundbreaking book, education expert John Shindler presents a powerful model, Transformative Classroom Management (TCM), that can be implemented by any teacher to restore the natural positive feelings in his or her classroom—the love of learning, collaboration, inspiration, and giving—and create a productive learning environment in which all students can achieve.
Unlike other classroom management systems that view problems as something to be "handled," TCM offers suggestions for creating optimal conditions for learning, performance, motivation, and growth. This practical book shows teachers how to abandon ineffective short-term gimmicks, bribes, and punishments and adopt the proven management practices and new habits of mind that will transform their classrooms.
Praise for Transformative Classroom Management
"Transformative Classroom Management is a practical resource that explains the how and why of classroom management for novice and veteran teachers. Dr. Shindler recognizes the importance of preserving the teacher's sanity while ensuring the student's development of a personal sense of responsibility and a positive self-esteem."
—Eileen Matus, principal, South Toms River Elementary School, New Jersey
"I have read many other management books by other authors, but Transformative Classroom Management has been the best so far at demystifying the invisible forces in the classroom."
—Will McElroy, 4th grade teacher, Los Angeles United School District
"This book was an invaluable tool for me during my student teaching. It served as a reference book that I found myself continually drawn to while struggling to find ways to effectively manage 29 first graders. The ideas, concepts and suggestions in the book were so innovative and helpful that even my Master Teacher found herself implementing some of the ideas! A must have for all student teachers!"
—Carol Gillon, student teacher, Seattle University
"Insightful and thoroughly researched, Transformative Classroom Management is an invaluable tool to help teachers, newbies and veterans alike, develop fully functional and engaged learning communities."
—Lisa Gamache Rodriguez, teacher, Los Angeles Unified School District
Education Nation: Six Leading Edges of Innovation in our Schools (Jossey-Bass Teacher) Review
An educational innovator who worked at Sesame Workshop and The George Lucas Educational Foundation offers a new vision for learning
As a result of constant innovation, learning is no longer limited by traditional confines and we're moving beyond students tied to their chairs, desks, and textbooks-and teachers locked away in classrooms. In Education Nation author Milton Chen draws from extensive experience in media-from his work on Sesame Street in its nascent years to his role as executive director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation-to support a vision for a new world of learning.
This book, in six chapters, explores the "edges" in education—the places where K-12 learning has already seen revolutionary changes through innovative reform and the use of technology.
This important book offers a clear vision for tomorrow's classrooms that will enhance learning opportunities for all children.
